The Colorado Buffaloes came and conquered at the Acrisure Holiday Classic, leaving Palm Springs with a 2-0 record and the series championship after beating the Washington Huskies by a final score of 81-68 on Friday afternoon.
CU entered the championship matchup against their former Pac-12 foe at a major advantage, as the Huskies were working with a makeshift roster due to injuries. Multiple key Washington players had to sit on Friday, including star recruit Hannes Steinbach.
These injuries led UW coach Danny Sprinkle to use a lineup that had never played together before, not even in practice, and the Buffs exploited that immediately. CU zoomed out to a quick 10-2 lead, courtesy of five quick points from star Buffs forward Bangot Dak right out of the gate.
Colorado’s defense swarmed Washington, causing the Huskies to miss almost every single shot they put up. The Dawgs started the game missing nine of their first ten attempts from the field, while the Buffs seemingly couldn’t miss. Alon Michaeli came off Colorado’s bench with a vengeance, scoring another quick seven points to give the Buffs a comfortable 15+ point cushion.
While Colorado’s offense continued to fire on all cylinders, UW continued to struggle getting the ball into the hoop, making only nine of their 32 attempts from the field in the first half, good for a 28.1% conversion rate. Meanwhile, Colorado made 16 of their 29 attempts from the field and out-rebounded the Dawgs by a margin of five. The Buffs went to the break with a comfortable 47-30 lead, which would have been higher if Washington had not hit all 11 of their first half freebies.
CU opened the second half by immediately putting its 17-point lead in jeopardy, allowing the Huskies to rattle off a 7-0 run. For whatever reason, the Buffs couldn’t find a way to defend Washington’s three-point ball and couldn’t make shots themselves, shooting only one of eight from the floor to open the period. The Huskies’ heater only continued ripping off another 10-0 run, eventually tying the game at 52 points.
With their backs against the wall, Colorado kicked things into overdrive. A Felix Kossaras three-pointer immediately followed Washington’s game-tying shot and the Buffs never looked back, leading for the remainder of the game.
The Buffs stayed true to their game down the stretch, playing unselfish basketball to find good looks, which they’d ultimately convert on. Another Kossaras three-pointer, back-to-back buckets by Elijah Malone and five clutch free throws by Isaiah Johnson built CU’s lead back to double-digits, as they’d eventually win by a margin of 13 points.
Bangot Dak finished as the undeniable player of the game, finishing with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead CU to the win. Freshman forward Alon Michaeli finished with 13 points, shooting five of seven from the floor with two makes from deep. Junior guard Barrington Hargress didn’t make the biggest impact in the scoring column, finishing with only seven points, but he more than made up for it with his eight assists and three steals.
With a record of 7-0, the Buffs are officially off to their best start since the 2019 season. Up next will be a home matchup with California Baptist on Monday evening in Boulder, so fans won’t have to wait long to watch this extremely exciting young Colorado squad.
